Random telegraph noise (RTN), also referred to as burst noise, popcorn noise or impulse noise, is an electronic noise that can occur in semiconductors and ultra-thin gate oxide films. The RTN consists of sudden step-like transitions between two or more discrete current or voltage levels. The RTN has a random nature and can occur at unpredictable times and cause voltage shifts as high as several hundred microvolts. The shift in offset voltage or current can last from several milliseconds to several seconds. Such a shift can be problematic in many applications.
As an example application, a number of sensor devices such as pressure sensors may operate by using a reference voltage or current provided by an electronic circuit such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) as their bias voltage or current. Typically, the reference voltage is generated by a bandgap circuit that is shown to be sensitive to the RTN. The RTN, in this case, can manifest itself as a sudden base current increase in one of the bipolar transistors of the bandgap circuit that results in an error in the bandgap voltage reference, and, in turn, translates into inaccurate pressure reading of the pressure sensor.